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Post by unafied on Jan 22, 2020 17:43:51 GMT -6
I’ve read this announcement twice and honestly still don’t really understand what’s happening. It seems to have just hit the news a few minutes ago, so I couldn’t find much out there explaining it in more detail.
I’m not really sure how this will shake out, but it doesn’t sound to be a good thing at the moment. I just say that because nobody in D1 is really knocking down the door to be a part of the ASUN, yet they say they want to add 10 new schools. Now, if they are somehow able to bring up Valdosta, UWG, West Florida, and a few others to this “new conference”? I could go for that. Or, if they’re able to convince a few teams in other conferences to come over (JSU?).
This is just a strange, strange press release.
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Post by lions09 on Jan 22, 2020 19:15:41 GMT -6
Whoa. Trying to read it and re-read it.
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Post by unalions on Jan 22, 2020 19:23:19 GMT -6
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Post by unalions on Jan 22, 2020 19:30:01 GMT -6
Sounds like they are seeking to go through several NCAA legislative steps to expand and change the name. This what jumped out to me about the interview.
Conference Evolution: ASUN/CCSA/UAC
Do you anticipate other conferences will follow the ASUN lead in developing new conferences? I don’t, for a number of reasons. One, we are the only Division I conference in our footprint that does not sponsor football. That means we are the only one that can start football. The ability to build a new football conference primarily in the southeast is a dominant factor. A second key factor is that the ASUN is well versed in conference realignment and we recognize the need to be innovative, to be bold, and to meet the real market demands of the institutions and their students. Thankfully, we are blessed with a visionary set of Presidents that are willing to have an eye focused on the future. I also think there is a strong possibility that the steps we are executing may trigger some change in the future. The NCAA is studying its championship financial model, the role of Automatic Qualification in championship field size and selection, and it would be a natural reaction after our announcement for some form of moratorium to be put in place.
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Post by lions09 on Jan 22, 2020 19:35:38 GMT -6
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Post by brandon on Jan 22, 2020 20:14:35 GMT -6
By my reading, and I may be totally wrong... There is going to be essentially 2 conferences, governed as 1... An FBS conference and an FCS conference. The ASUN 7 will help form the new conference and play all sports there. Liberty, UNA and Bellarmine will be in the UAC (United Athletic Conference) with others... One of the two conferences will have FBS football and the other will have FCS ball. Judging by some of the conversation I have had with Gumbart, it will be a consolidation type deal, he hinted a few times about this, but I couldn't put it together. So, even though Liberty is FBS, they will have all their other sports in the FCS conference, and likewise, KSU will have their football in the FCS conference but play in the FBS conference for all other sports. If say, UNA wanted to go FBS, they will automatically move to the FBS conference for football only. The question now is who else will join the conference(s) I am inclined to think they already know, but my speculation is New ASUN (FBS) FGCU Stetson (Pioneer league) JU UNF Lipscomb KSU (FCS UAC) NJIT UConn (football only FBS) UMass (football only FBS) United Athletic Conference (FCS) UNA Bellarmine Liberty (ASUN for football) Now, what I'm most confused about is, are both conferences going to have 20 schools a piece or just the ASUN?
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Post by tuna85 on Jan 22, 2020 20:36:10 GMT -6
Based on the info provided above by unalions and lions09, I guess this appears to be the way the ASun looks to evolve their footprint into a new conference that will offer football. Per the Wiki link CCSA was originally created by ASun, Big South, MEAC, and Southern Conference to have a home for swimming and diving. Maybe there is enough interest from some ASun/BigSouth, MEAC, and SoCon members to create a regional stand alone conference which has a home for football. Seems they are looking forward to the next round of D1 Realignment which will most likely result in a Power 5 tier, a Group of Five/FCS tier, D2 (maybe D2/FCS lower tier), and D3. Hopefully the idea is to position the conference for the Group of Five/FCS tier. Well there's some spaghetti thrown against the wall...reckon will see if it sticks and what will develop.
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Post by brandon on Jan 23, 2020 1:04:04 GMT -6
UPON FURTHER REVIEW lol, I couldn't resist.
It looks like I was way off.
The best I gather is, the UAC is going to be a FCS football only conference like the MVFC... it will be comprised of all ASUN FCS football schools plus all football schools in the Big South... the Big South will drop football. Other schools from other conferences may be involved for football only. I'm sure Monmouth will stay..
As for the ASUN... All 10 current members will be involved. The ASUN 7 is a thing because of NCAA by laws says there has to be a minimum number of years for schools to be associated to count as "core members" so that excludes Liberty, UNA and Bellarmine as "Core Members". That by no means says we cant be a part, but those 7 has to do it or it dont get done.
The scenario is this... and Gumbart did everything but tell me and I never picked up on it in our several conversations.
Yall remember when I said he was actively looking for a FBS option for ASUN schools? Well, this is it.
The current 10 ASUN members plus 10 schools from both the Sun Belt and C-USA will form this new conference. It obviously will be called the ASUN. Those 10 will all be FBS football. How do we have FBS football in the ASUN? Because after that happens, the remaining members of the Sun Belt and C-USA will merge, and the ASUN will receive the rights of the defunct conference.
I have no idea who the 10 schools are, but by my math, it's kinda easy to figure out.
UNA and KSU will have a FBS home if they ever choose to do so...
And this puts an end to the ASUN being a "bottom feeder" conference.
My speculation of the new 10 schools is
Western Kentucky MTSU Old Dominion Coastal Carolina App State Georgia Southern UAB FAU FIU Either Marshall or Southern Miss. Not both (unless NJIT bolts later)
So, dont worry, Liberty, UNA and Bellarmine will still be in the ASUN...
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Post by unafied on Jan 23, 2020 5:17:00 GMT -6
I definitely think there will be (or already is) a push back against the far-flung expansion some of these conferences have gone through. Even if TV money is pouring in, how can you justify flying around these teams, in the middle of the week, multiple times per year? Why is Old Dominion, in Norfolk, Virginia, in a conference with Rice (in Houston), when a team like Appalachian State is just a few hours away but in the Sun Belt? CUSA and the Sun Belt basically cover the same geographic area. So I wouldn’t be surprised if there are eventually some changes there, whether the ASUN is involved or not.
I think what I’m still confused about is, who plays in this new ASUN, and who plays in the UAC? Why would all these schools combine, just to split again? If the split will just be for football (as in the ASUN remains but UAC is the FBS football conference), are we looking at seriously having a 20-team conference for all other sports?
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Post by brandon on Jan 23, 2020 6:44:48 GMT -6
I definitely think there will be (or already is) a push back against the far-flung expansion some of these conferences have gone through. Even if TV money is pouring in, how can you justify flying around these teams, in the middle of the week, multiple times per year? Why is Old Dominion, in Norfolk, Virginia, in a conference with Rice (in Houston), when a team like Appalachian State is just a few hours away but in the Sun Belt? CUSA and the Sun Belt basically cover the same geographic area. So I wouldn’t be surprised if there are eventually some changes there, whether the ASUN is involved or not. I think what I’m still confused about is, who plays in this new ASUN, and who plays in the UAC? Why would all these schools combine, just to split again? If the split will just be for football (as in the ASUN remains but UAC is the FBS football conference), are we looking at seriously having a 20-team conference for all other sports? Because the UAC will not be a traditional conference... The ASUN will be the main conference, all Current Members will still be in the ASUN as their main conference. It will be the current 10 plus 10 more. (NJIT will remain the outlier) they will compete in a all sport conference with football in the FBS. The schools with FCS football will form the new football only FCS conference called the UAC (United Athletic Conference) and will also house the Big South football schools and the Big South will drop football from their conference. Not saying it will only be ASUN and Big South football schools involved, but that's the main core of it. UNA, KSU and Stetson (if they choose to have scholarship football) and any other ASUN member that wants to start football will be in the UAC for football. If UNA, KSU, or say, FGCU and UNF wanted to start football and move to FBS, they would automatically have a FBS home. If not, they still have a all sports home and an FCS home. So the ASUN=a 20 team all sports FBS conference The UAC (United Athletic Conference)= a football only FCS conference like the MVFC.
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Post by brandon on Jan 23, 2020 6:46:43 GMT -6
I forget about UNC Charlotte, they would probably be the 10th school over Southern Miss or Marshall. Marshall will more than likely move to the MAC.
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Post by unafied on Jan 23, 2020 7:49:35 GMT -6
I definitely think there will be (or already is) a push back against the far-flung expansion some of these conferences have gone through. Even if TV money is pouring in, how can you justify flying around these teams, in the middle of the week, multiple times per year? Why is Old Dominion, in Norfolk, Virginia, in a conference with Rice (in Houston), when a team like Appalachian State is just a few hours away but in the Sun Belt? CUSA and the Sun Belt basically cover the same geographic area. So I wouldn’t be surprised if there are eventually some changes there, whether the ASUN is involved or not. I think what I’m still confused about is, who plays in this new ASUN, and who plays in the UAC? Why would all these schools combine, just to split again? If the split will just be for football (as in the ASUN remains but UAC is the FBS football conference), are we looking at seriously having a 20-team conference for all other sports? Because the UAC will not be a traditional conference... The ASUN will be the main conference, all Current Members will still be in the ASUN as their main conference. It will be the current 10 plus 10 more. (NJIT will remain the outlier) they will compete in a all sport conference with football in the FBS. The schools with FCS football will form the new football only FCS conference called the UAC (United Athletic Conference) and will also house the Big South football schools and the Big South will drop football from their conference. Not saying it will only be ASUN and Big South football schools involved, but that's the main core of it. UNA, KSU and Stetson (if they choose to have scholarship football) and any other ASUN member that wants to start football will be in the UAC for football. If UNA, KSU, or say, FGCU and UNF wanted to start football and move to FBS, they would automatically have a FBS home. If not, they still have a all sports home and an FCS home. So the ASUN=a 20 team all sports FBS conference The UAC (United Athletic Conference)= a football only FCS conference like the MVFC. Thanks Brandon. That makes more sense than anything else that I've read. I'm still not exactly sure why the ASUN wants 20 members, or how it will work when it comes to scheduling. But I suppose it helps a lot of "bigger" teams save on travel costs, and allows the ASUN teams to be in a conference that is potentially viewed as being stronger. It would be really nice if we could pull some FCS teams in since the Big South schedule doesn't exactly thrill me. But sports other than football would possibly have a much more interesting set of teams to play.
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Post by brandon on Jan 23, 2020 8:44:52 GMT -6
Because the UAC will not be a traditional conference... The ASUN will be the main conference, all Current Members will still be in the ASUN as their main conference. It will be the current 10 plus 10 more. (NJIT will remain the outlier) they will compete in a all sport conference with football in the FBS. The schools with FCS football will form the new football only FCS conference called the UAC (United Athletic Conference) and will also house the Big South football schools and the Big South will drop football from their conference. Not saying it will only be ASUN and Big South football schools involved, but that's the main core of it. UNA, KSU and Stetson (if they choose to have scholarship football) and any other ASUN member that wants to start football will be in the UAC for football. If UNA, KSU, or say, FGCU and UNF wanted to start football and move to FBS, they would automatically have a FBS home. If not, they still have a all sports home and an FCS home. So the ASUN=a 20 team all sports FBS conference The UAC (United Athletic Conference)= a football only FCS conference like the MVFC. Thanks Brandon. That makes more sense than anything else that I've read. I'm still not exactly sure why the ASUN wants 20 members, or how it will work when it comes to scheduling. But I suppose it helps a lot of "bigger" teams save on travel costs, and allows the ASUN teams to be in a conference that is potentially viewed as being stronger. It would be really nice if we could pull some FCS teams in since the Big South schedule doesn't exactly thrill me. But sports other than football would possibly have a much more interesting set of teams to play. Basically, the position of the ASUN at this time is, protect current members. And apparently there is some discord from the East division of C-USA. (This is speculation only about C-USA) But it makes sense in an all sports environment. And take in consideration that some feel like the Sun Belt is on par or a little better than C-USA now. You can have FAU and FIU join with FGCU, UNF, JU and Stetson, cutting travel cost dramatically with just those schools. MTSU, UAB, Lipscomb, UNA, KSU in another group. Western Kentucky, Bellarmine, Marshall, Liberty, Old Dominion, Charlotte. In a group. NJIT is still the outlier, but I'm sure they would be happy in this scenario as well. And nobody will complain about 1 outlier when they have the market they have. As far as scheduling, 20 teams, play each other 1 time, or have 2 10 team divisions.... And, there is an issue with there only being 8 C-USA schools. That's because I am speculating, it could be 10, it could be 5 and 5 Sun Belt schools. Who knows? But it's the only thing that makes any sense to this point in time. It may be something totally different.... But, in my opinion, that's the only way to get FBS eligible. Move schools from C-USA to the new ASUN, let the remaining schools join the Sun Belt, ASUN takes the C-USA FBS rights. The protection comes because of all the speculation of a new setup in D1 athletics. Especially in our case, we just spent a ton of money to be D1, IF, the speculative sub divisions of D1 occured, there may be a chance we are back to square one and waited all that money. Do this and it prevents that from happening. We will not be top tier, but we wont be bottom tier either. It also gets the ASUN ahead of the game if "super conferences" come to be. That has been an ongoing talk for over a Decade now. Well, 20 schools looks like a "super conference" to me. And in this scenario, it is primarily a regional conference outside NJIT.
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Post by lions09 on Jan 23, 2020 11:30:17 GMT -6
I definitely think there will be (or already is) a push back against the far-flung expansion some of these conferences have gone through. Even if TV money is pouring in, how can you justify flying around these teams, in the middle of the week, multiple times per year? Why is Old Dominion, in Norfolk, Virginia, in a conference with Rice (in Houston), when a team like Appalachian State is just a few hours away but in the Sun Belt? CUSA and the Sun Belt basically cover the same geographic area. So I wouldn’t be surprised if there are eventually some changes there, whether the ASUN is involved or not. I think what I’m still confused about is, who plays in this new ASUN, and who plays in the UAC? Why would all these schools combine, just to split again? If the split will just be for football (as in the ASUN remains but UAC is the FBS football conference), are we looking at seriously having a 20-team conference for all other sports? Because the UAC will not be a traditional conference... The ASUN will be the main conference, all Current Members will still be in the ASUN as their main conference. It will be the current 10 plus 10 more. (NJIT will remain the outlier) they will compete in a all sport conference with football in the FBS. The schools with FCS football will form the new football only FCS conference called the UAC (United Athletic Conference) and will also house the Big South football schools and the Big South will drop football from their conference. Not saying it will only be ASUN and Big South football schools involved, but that's the main core of it. UNA, KSU and Stetson (if they choose to have scholarship football) and any other ASUN member that wants to start football will be in the UAC for football. If UNA, KSU, or say, FGCU and UNF wanted to start football and move to FBS, they would automatically have a FBS home. If not, they still have a all sports home and an FCS home. So the ASUN=a 20 team all sports FBS conference The UAC (United Athletic Conference)= a football only FCS conference like the MVFC. I hope they clarify this stuff ASAP.
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Post by unalions on Jan 23, 2020 13:02:52 GMT -6
I definitely think there will be (or already is) a push back against the far-flung expansion some of these conferences have gone through. Even if TV money is pouring in, how can you justify flying around these teams, in the middle of the week, multiple times per year? Why is Old Dominion, in Norfolk, Virginia, in a conference with Rice (in Houston), when a team like Appalachian State is just a few hours away but in the Sun Belt? CUSA and the Sun Belt basically cover the same geographic area. So I wouldn’t be surprised if there are eventually some changes there, whether the ASUN is involved or not. I think what I’m still confused about is, who plays in this new ASUN, and who plays in the UAC? Why would all these schools combine, just to split again? If the split will just be for football (as in the ASUN remains but UAC is the FBS football conference), are we looking at seriously having a 20-team conference for all other sports? Because the UAC will not be a traditional conference... The ASUN will be the main conference, all Current Members will still be in the ASUN as their main conference. It will be the current 10 plus 10 more. (NJIT will remain the outlier) they will compete in a all sport conference with football in the FBS. The schools with FCS football will form the new football only FCS conference called the UAC (United Athletic Conference) and will also house the Big South football schools and the Big South will drop football from their conference. Not saying it will only be ASUN and Big South football schools involved, but that's the main core of it. UNA, KSU and Stetson (if they choose to have scholarship football) and any other ASUN member that wants to start football will be in the UAC for football. If UNA, KSU, or say, FGCU and UNF wanted to start football and move to FBS, they would automatically have a FBS home. If not, they still have a all sports home and an FCS home. So the ASUN=a 20 team all sports FBS conference The UAC (United Athletic Conference)= a football only FCS conference like the MVFC. NJIT doesn't play football. Also, did I miss the part where there was any mention of FCS or FBS? I'm not seeing anything that states the UAC would be a football-only conference. EDIT: I see it in the Glossary of Terms now. docs.google.com/document/d/1mIGMoAZk1zfhNMDhMfPwzEeFRzN_ZfYW0hx75Hg7WXw/editThe chronological steps in this plan are: a) ASUN Conference expands to 20 members (by June, 2023) b) The ASUN transfers rights to the ASUN name and marks to the CCSA c) The ASUN 7 join the CCSA (July 1, 2023) d) The CCSA adopts the ASUN name as a multisport conference e) The remaining ASUN members adopt the name United Athletic ConferenceBTW, this was a TERRIBLE media roll-out.
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